The automotive industry continuously seeks to better protect pedestrians from collisions with other vehicles. In particular, some attention has been paid to preventing occupant injury during side impacts, since there is relatively little structure in vehicle doors that is available to protect vehicle occupants, as compared to the safety structure present during frontal or rear-end collisions. In recent years, the use of side impact beams, also known as intrusion beams, has become more common. However, these beams in at least some instances have made more complicated the process of manufacturing vehicle door assemblies. In such cases, the intrusion beam extends across the opening that is used to mount the carrier to the inner door panel, and thus can interfere with the mounting of the carrier.
There is therefore a need to provide a door assembly that provides good occupant protection while also being easy to manufacture.